WEEK IN THE MONTEREY BAY. FROM THIS WEEK'S MASSIVE NUMBER OF ANCHOVIES DYING IN SANTA CRUZ 'S YACHT HARBOR.... TO THE SEAWEED AND ALGAE WASHING UP ON SEASIDE SHORES.... MANY ARE ASKING ABOUT THE VERY HEALTH OF THE MONTEREY BAY AND WHAT'S CAUSING THESE EVENTS. ACTION NEWS REPORTER PHIL GOMEZ SET OUT TO ANSWER THOSE QUESTIONS,,, HE HAS TONIGHT'S TOP STORY. PHIL. .# SCIENTISTS BELIEVE WEATHER CONDITIONS HAVE PLAYED A ROLE IN SOME OF THE THINGS WE'RE SEEING OUT IN THE MONTEREY BAY. IT'S NOT UNUSUAL BUT ITS A PERFECT STORM OF FACTORS COMING TOGETHER AT ONE TIME. HUMPBACK WHALES PUTTING ON A SHOW SWIMMING CLOSE TO SHORE...ANCHOVIES ABSENT FROM THE SYSTEM FOR YEARS MAKING AN APPEARANCE...AND A THICK GREEN SLIME THAT'S WASHED UP ON A SEASIDE BEACH. THEY COULD BE TIED TOGETHER BY A CHANGE IN WEATHER CONDITIONS AROUND THE MONTEREY BAY What's happened is the natural cycle of the Bay is the Spring and early Summer. We have strong winds out of the Northwest that causes upwelling pushing all the productive watersoff shore. When those winds slacken everything kind of creeps shoreward and the waters warm up. ANCHOVIES ARE FOLLOWING THEIR FOOD ...PLANKTON...AND IN TURN THE HUMPBACK WHALES ARE FOLLOWING THEIRS... ANCHOVIES. Anything that eats anchovies is going to follow them. So, what we've got now is humpback whales these large aggressisions in shore and in some cases getting so shallow people are seeing them right off the beach or right off the wharf. FRANCISCO CHAVEZ, SENIOR SCIENTIEST WITH THE MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM RESEARCH INSTITUTE HAS HIS OWN THEORY. HE BELIEVES WE'RE BEGINNING TO SEE THE EFFECTS OF EL NINO THAT HIT THE COAST OF PERU A COUPLE OF MONTHS AGO. Things off of Peru, the equator have started to come back to normal and sw we'll see a period of normalty after the unsual warm period but things could get interesting again if the conditions in the Western Pacific start to ramp up and we have a second pulse of El Nino. AS FOR THIS GREEN STUFF THAT WASHED ONTO A SEASIDE BEACH THEY'VE IDENTIFIED IT AS ULVA OR SEA LETTUCE BUT SCIENTISTS CAN ONLY SPECULATE WHY ITS COMING OUT OF THE SEA. There's obviosly some sort of nutrition for those plants to growA it must be sa different source of nurition then we're aware of because the regular upwellings has been rather weak. so, something different is happening there but I dont have a good explanation for that. IN THE MEANTIME, WHAT DOES THE FUTURE OF THE MONTEREY BAY HOLD. As long as there's food and hungry whales you'll see the whales close into shore.the food comes the closer the whales will come. It is chaning constantly. It's vulnerable. We don't know what's going to happen in the future but right now, It's looking pretty good. SO WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ANCHOVIES MORE LIKELY THEY WERE SEEKING SHALLOW WATER TO AVOID BEING EATEN BY WHALES AND OTHER PREDATORS 1 SPLIT WHEN THEY JUST RAN OUT OF OXYGEN. AS FOR THE ALGAE BLOOM .. IT'S STILL A MYSTERY TO SCIENTIESTS AS TO WHY THE 'ULVA' OR SEA LETTUCE IS WASHING UP ON OUR BEACHES...# ON THE CRIME WATCH: A BENCH